


The Lie

by CmonCmon



Series: Raising Warriors [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Jedi Read Minds Right?, Mentions of canon-typical violence, Rancor Battalion, Soft Wars, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25345630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CmonCmon/pseuds/CmonCmon
Summary: Commander Colt has been reassigned to Kamino. He'll do as he's told, but he'll protect every one of his men while doing it.
Relationships: Colt (Star Wars)/Shaak Ti
Series: Raising Warriors [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835518
Comments: 30
Kudos: 395
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	The Lie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts), [Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLune/gifts).



> Setting sail on the Colt/Shaak Ti ship with all the lovely enablers from the Soft Wars discord!
> 
> This series is working in the universe as the Colt and Shaak Ti from [March Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24546811/chapters/59274286) and inspired by Project0506's amazing [Soft Wars](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683775) series.
> 
> So many thanks to PrimaryBufferPanel and Jac for keeping one hand on the ship's wheel and being wonderful Betas!

Commander Colt was showered and shaved. The worst of the mud and muck had been rinsed off his armor and he was down to what was his last pair of clean blacks. All of that was more than could be said for most of the men. 

And those were the ones left standing. A quarter of the force he’d marched into battle with.

Med bay was still full of the worst of it. Fewer now, and not for good reasons. That would be hard to explain. Like everything else.

“Preparing to dock.” Blitz rested a hand on his shoulder. Colt flinched, and hated himself for it. Two days in transit was enough time to get most of the battlefield off his armor, but not out of his head.

Colt scrubbed at his tired, gritty eyes. It might have been two days in transit, but those had not left any time for sleep. Colt was going to walk off this ship and look a Jedi General in the eye and tell the biggest lie of his whole life. 

Five hundred of his men would go back to die on another battlefield if he didn’t pull this off.

“No pressure, ori’vod.” Havoc thumped him on the pauldron, but even the ARC’s razor sharp smile was more of a grimace.

The order had been simple. Report to General Ti on Kamino with his best men to build a standing defense of the Cloning Facility. The orders hadn’t put a number on it, but Colt knew no one was thinking a full battalion.

He needed to sell this. He would defend his lies like he would defend everything else. He needed more than just words. He needed something concrete. Colt stopped and looked between his brothers. “Blitz, trade me one of your pauldrons.”

Blitz didn’t ask any questions, moving to open the latch on one dusty blue pauldron. It wasn’t even the right shade of blue for Uvak Battalion, but it was all they could mix in the field that was even close when Colt moved Blitz over to battalion command as the CCs were dropping left and right.

Colt unsnapped his own as the ship thumped down on the dock. They would camouflage with their brothers. “Tell all the men to do the same. Rancor, Uvak, Akk, I don’t care what they were. We’re all Rancor now, and Rancor’s going to walk off this ship a real colorful crew.”

Havoc had the beskar balls to laugh. “Yes, sir.” 

Colt snapped the new pauldron in space, shifting it to at least pretend it was fit for him before punching the release on the gangway and moved to snap his helmet down.

“Colt.” Blitz caught his arm. “We would--”

“I know.” Colt knew in his bones that every scarred, exhausted brother on that ship would trade out of whatever few spots they were actually supposed to have. Every one of them would argue to go back to the battlefield so another brother in their patchwork battalion could stay on Kamino. He also knew that every single one of them thought this plan was nothing more than the GAR’s best defensive mind running longshot odds trying to bluff a literal mindreader. “I know and we’re not doing that.”

It was a desperation play, but he was a desperate man. Colt would do whatever it took to spare what men he had left. 

They weren’t much more than a battalion anyway.

He shoved his bucket on and saluted Blitz. “Prepare the troops, Commander.”

“Sir.” Blitz returned the salute with perfect form.

Colt would do what he needed to do to protect his men. Months ago, lying to a Jedi would have been unthinkable. He’d thought a lot of unthinkable things in the last few months.

He had no brothers at his back as he walked down the ramp. He had expected to be informed his new General was off in some private office somewhere. Instead, she met him on the landing platform as if he was ranking.

“General.” He snapped to salute. “Clone Commander 1016 reporting with Rancor Battalion.”

General Ti was slight, but nearly his height without the addition of her horns, and his armor paint very nearly matched her. Most of his armor at least.

“At ease, Commander. No formalities are required.” Her voice was low and soft despite the whipping winds. “Colt, is it not?”

He hadn’t had time to give it any thought, but he hadn’t expected this to be the Jedi who had defended the tanks from Merai alongside Alpha-17 during the Battle of Kamino. But then, he’d only met Jedi for fleeting moments in predawn planning huddles before rushing yet more of his men into open graves.

He removed his helmet, tucking in under his arm. “Yes, sir.”

“You and your men are only just removed from your last engagement?” 

“Yes, sir.” She was so composed, so gentle. Colt had forgotten those things existed. “Two days. Got Rancor here as soon as we could. Sir.”

The wind picked up again, flapping the folds and folds of her Jedi clothes. He would have thought she would suggest they find cover. Instead, she seemed to relish the gales off the sea.

“You brought an entire battalion with you?”

 _There it was._

“Yes sir. I was told to bring my best, and that’s Rancor.” Colt believed those words with every fiber in his being. He didn’t bother to shield his thoughts. “They’re all battle-tested and tried. Couldn’t find braver men in the galaxy.”

“According to current reports, Rancor is six hundred and forty men.” Something bright flickered in her eyes. Humor? Did Jedi have a sense of humor? She had done her own preparation. “That is large for a battalion, is it not?”

“It is, sir, but Kamino is quite the prize to the Seps. If they come back in force, it’ll take numbers to hold it.” He says in his most ‘Commander Colt’ voice. “These men held Brentaal IV’s capital for sixteen days without support.”

“I also fought on Brentaal IV.” 

“Yes, sir.” Of course he knew. He had also done his work. Preparation was the key to a defensive plan. “With distinction, we’ve heard. You took the Stronghold.”

Her reaction revealed nothing, just a graceful incline of her head in acknowledgement.

In the gusting wind, Colt could feel the chilled sweat his blacks were wicking away. She hadn’t said yes, but she hadn’t said no. She had looked him in the eye. She had chosen to use his name. She seemed to acknowledge him as a person. She couldn’t ask him to pick and choose the men he would send back out to the frontlines.

_She could, if you let her._

Even just a tenday to recover. He would take anything he could get for them.

He was not too proud to beg.

“Sir--” 

“Colt,” she cut him off. “It’s been a long day for your battalion.” She glanced past him to the ramp. “I believe your men would appreciate word to disembark?”

Relief nearly knocked the knees out from under him. “They would, sir.”

They would, so much more than he could say.

“The injured will go straight to medical. The others will need to-” She brought her hands together in front of the folds of her robes. “ _Squeeze in_ until we can find more rooms.”

There was something in the spark in her eyes, or maybe the barely there twist of her lips? Something that had him completely certain she knew everything he wasn’t telling.

He didn’t care. Couldn’t care. She could know every deep dark secret in his head so long as she sheltered his troops. The rush of the moment and the wind shoving through his cracked armor was enough to leave him breathless. “Gladly, sir. We’ve done with plenty worse.”

She inclined her head again, the curve of her neck like tall grass in a breeze. “See to your men, Commander. We can discuss in the morning.”

“Thank you, sir.” He meant it with everything in him. He tapped his comm. “Blitz, Havoc, get ‘em all moving. Injured straight off to med bay.”

Colt could only hope she was out of earshot before Havoc and Hammer cheers burst back to him through the comm.


End file.
